Since the judgment reverting to Roe v. Wade and the reference to local laws of the right to abortion, the difference is abrupt between the States.
Nearly 50 years of historical precedent. On Friday, the US Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, who had legalized abortion rights federally in 1973. The conservative magistrates -against the opinion of the three progressives- therefore referred the regulation of the question to the laws of the States.
While some states had covered their backs by enshrining the right to abortion in local constitutions, other Republican states had prepared for backsliding. As soon as the Supreme Court announced, ten states banned voluntary terminations of pregnancy thanks to “trigger laws”, laws voted to come into force at the end of Roe v. Wade: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Ohio. Others had planned with legislations that will be in effect 15 or 30 days after Roe v. Wade to the image of Texas, where a law limits the right to abortion to six weeks of pregnancy (or when heartbeats of the fetus can be heard). Republican State Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday welcomed the overturning of Roe v. Wade, even establishing a public holiday on June 24, “in memory of the 70 million lives lost because of abortion”.
Some states are uncertain about the future, sometimes depending on the outcome of the midterm elections next November: in the event of a Republican victory, Arizona and Pennsylvania could switch to very restrictive legislation, or even bans. Others are dependent on local court decisions or legislation: in Indiana, an exceptional legislative session will take place at the beginning of July and a vote will be organized on August 2 in Kansas.